Gordon Takes the Driver’s Seat

After a long holiday weekend, the oil complex is soaring higher while Tropical Storm Gordon continues to strengthen as it approaches U.S. shores. Crude prices settled lower on Friday as the market focused on growing U.S. inventories and trade war concerns. Since then, crude has gained over a dollar (2%) to trade at $71.23 this morning.

Fuel prices are also trading sharply higher this morning. Both gasoline and diesel traded mostly flat on Friday, closing within a few points of their opening price. Today, prices are marching higher with both products moving 2.5% higher. Diesel prices are currently $2.3000, gaining 5.7 cents and gasoline is trading at $2.0494, picking up 5.2 cents.

Back in March, gasoline saw a large jump in prices due to the summer RVP requirements taking effect. This weekend, gasoline prices declined over 14 cents due to the expiration of the September gasoline contract, which removed the summer RVP requirements, taking the elevated prices along with it.

Gordon Takes the Driver’s Seat

There are three storms the market is currently monitoring with Tropical Storm Gordon taking the driver’s seat for prices this morning. The disturbance in the Caribbean strengthened to Tropical Storm Gordon yesterday, with a forecasted path impacting the coastal areas of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana early this week. The storm is expected to make landfall this evening as a Category One Hurricane. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey all declared emergencies in their respective states to free up personnel and equipment ahead of the storm.

Mansfield has moved to Code Orange for these states and is taking the necessary precautions to prepare customers in these areas. Current statements from local ports and suppliers indicates no planned outages based on current forecasts, which show possible storm surge of 3-5 feet in some areas. We will continue to keep our customers updated of any changes or issues due to the storm.